A Treasure of Greater Value
by Reckless Dawn-chan
Summary: GrayxClaire. Just when Gray is starting to think he's horrible at mining, a new villager outdoes him and brings his self-esteem down even more. Yet he can't hate this person, in fact, they begin to develop a blooming friendship they'll never regret.
1. Surprise

A treasure of greater value...

A GrayxClaire Fanfiction

Chapter One

A light brown haired man wearing his usual "UMA" cap stood in his grandfather's blacksmith, working hard, his face showing obvious frustration. His grandfather Saibara, his hair white with age, yelled at him once again. This was just a tiring routine they went through daily, one neither of them liked.

"Your work is crap!" he shouted at his grandson, no tone of sympathy in his voice. Gray's face was red with anger, although he had heard this many times before. Saibara gave a sigh. "Get out of my shop. Go get me some ores to work with." His tone wasn't harsh, but it was stressed and demanding.

Gray threw down his work and rushed for the door, happy he could get out of work. He heard his grandfather mutter something under his breath, but he was too angry to care. Although he was glad he could go mine, his grandfather had never gotten this angry. Usually, they both just sucked up the other one's presence.

As he grasped the door and stormed out, he didn't notice his roommate, Cliff, coming in. They collided, knocking each other off their feet and on the ground, and Cliff into a patch of grass.

"S...sorry Gray..." Cliff apologized, quickly getting up and holding out a hand for Gray. He didn't take it, but got up on his own, shaking the dirt off him. "Cliff." he said with curiously, since Cliff wasn't a usual customer. "Er... yeah...." Cliff mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Gray waited for an explanation, like Cliff would usually give, but Cliff just stood there, his face the shade of scarlet.

Then it hit him- Cliff and Ann had been inseparable recently, and if you liked a girl, what better present to give them but jewelry? "I'll get out of your way." Gray said, stepping out of the doorway. He heard Cliff mumble an apology, but Gray was on his way to the mine, one place he could think straight.

He went into the dark mine, holding his hammer he had token with him. Approaching a rock, he swung the hammer over his head and smashed down hard. It broke in three large swings, and out crumbled... "A useless Junk Ore." He sighed. It was hopeless, he would never accomplish anything great.

He heard a noise, a small clunk, and looked up from the rock he had smashed. In front of him had dropped a shining mystrile ore, one of the highest quality. He rarely came across these. With a slight hesitation he picked it up, the blue of the ore shined in the darkness. He heard someone's footsteps right near him. His stomach felt sickened, knowing that was true owner of the ore who was standing almost next to him. He knew he should return the ore, but he didn't want to give up something he could claim for his own, one thing that might find him at least half-worthy in his grandfather's eyes. Then again, it was his grandfather he was talking about, but his mind was made up as he clutched the ore tightly in his hand. _'If they want it, they'll say something.' _He convinced himself. There was a shuffling noise moving towards the entrance of the mine, and Gray wondered who the owner could have been. _'They're obviously a better miner than me.' _Gray concluded with a sigh. _'Who else would mine in Mineral Town? It can't be gramps…' _he told himself with a cold look. _'Who would keep the shop open?' _In his grandfather's mind, no one was good enough to even stand behind that counter besides his blood, with a few exceptions, including Gray at the moment.

He waited for another noise, but all was silent. _'They must have left.' _He told himself, loosening his grip on the ore and putting his hammer down. _'Maybe I should go and see who this belongs to…' _He began to pace, thinking hard, his face showing determination with a hint of guilt knowing he stole what wasn't rightfully his, as he put it in his pocket and picked up his hammer, continuing to smash more rocks.

Once he was done he slung the hammer on his back and walked out, basically as unsuccessful as usual, besides the mystrile ore. Even though he had the ore, there was the downside of guilt and curiosity… who was this unknown miner? If he didn't find out, the curiosity, and perhaps even guilt, would continue to haunt him. Gray wasn't a particularly curious person, but it was human nature. He took a deep breath and decided to forget about it. It would just be idiotic to skip work to find out, not to mention there would be a severe punishment from Saibara. He guessed it wasn't important enough for him to worry.


	2. Deception

A treasure of greater value...

A GrayxClaire Fanfiction

Chapter Two

"G...Gray…" Cliff's quiet voice called out. "…Gray…" Gray stirred in his sleep, but didn't acknowledge his roommate. "Gray… get up…" Cliff told him, shaking him softy. Gray's eyes popped open suddenly. "What?" Cliff took a few steps back nervously. "Y...you're going to be late… for work…"

Gray looked at his watch and quickly jumped out of his bed. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed with frustration. Of course Cliff backed up even further in response to his anger. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Gray threw open the door, and standing in the way was Ann, almost as furious as Gray was, but in her face there was also concern.

"What's going on?" There was a hint of irritation in her voice. Gray pushed Ann out of the way so he could get through. "Out of the way, Ann." He muttered, and walked off, leaving Cliff and Ann both a bit angry, but extremely upset.

"Gray!" Saibara yelled as soon as he stepped in the door. Even though Gray had braced himself for his grandfather's anger, he wasn't exactly prepared. "You're late!"

Gray pulled at the end of his hat. _'I already knew that.' _Even in his head his annoyance rang through clearly. The expression of anger faded from Saibara's face and he turned away.

"Oh, yes, before I forget, while you were at the mine yesterday, a customer asked for a bracelet, made by you and you only." Saibara told him. His grandson's face showed a combination of relief, surprise and happiness. Usually Saibara made the bracelets, but the fact that they wanted Gray to make one just boosted Gray's self confidence, especially since his grandfather could make jewelry in just a day or two, while it took Gray longer. "By me?" Gray managed to choke out.

"Yes, and they ask for the ore to be provided, and they'll pay extra." Saibara informed him.

Gray still couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Really? Who was this?" Saibara turned back around to face Gray, but stared at the counter.

"Cliff." He answered in his rough voice. _'It figures…'_ Gray thought sourly, although still content. _'That's why Cliff was here yesterday… He wants me to make a bracelet he can give to Ann.'_ Gray figured it was a bit early to give her a bracelet, but he knew it wasn't his business and he shouldn't say anything.

"He says to put as much effort into it as possible." His grandfather informed, and gave a long pause. "Can you get the ore? I'm all out…"

Gray went over to his workplace. "…Yeah, I'll manage." He mumbled, then added, "Does this mean you're not ticked off at me anymore?" The old man looked him straight in the eye, his expression fierce. "No, I'm just distracted by the fact that someone requested that only you make a bracelet." Gray knew he really meant amazed, but didn't say anything. As long as he could avoid another fight he would be fine.

Saibara's face turned strict and serious once again. "Anyways, get to work. Once you're done working on Basil's tool, you can go mining again." A light bulb nearly exploded in Gray's head at the word 'mining', and he pulled the blue ore from out of his pockets. "Gramps!" he called at his grandfather, who looked up, his 'truce' forgotten as he prepared to give Gray a lecture. "Heads up." Gray tossed the mystrile ore, and Saibara quickly caught it. He paused with it in his hands, and then examined the ore. "Maybe you _have_ improved…" Saibara muttered quietly to himself, then paused and shook his head.

While Gray finished up on the tool Basil had requested, he heard the opening and closing of the blacksmith door behind him, and footsteps walking towards the counter. "Can I help you?" he heard the old man croak out in his rough voice.

"Yes, I was wondering if you could buy these from me. I need some gold pretty badly… I'm just starting out here." That would explain why Gray found the female voice unfamiliar.

Saibara gave a chuckle, which was quite awkward for Gray, who had hardly seen or heard his grandfather content. "Sure, sure. Here you go." The clinging noise of gold rang in Gray's ears. "Thank you." She said sincerely. "Have a nice day." Gray ignored her and tried to focus on his work. He wanted to prove, just like always, that his work was worthy.

The closing of the door only told him to work harder, as he stood by the burning stove working up a sweat. He was relieved and surprised when his grandfather excused him to the mine early, before he had finished Basil's tool. "Don't come back without the orichalc ore." He reminded Gray in a dry voice. Gray knew he had to try his hardest when he was mining, since Cliff and Saibara were counting on him, not to mention he was counting on himself.

He entered the mine with his hammer, wondering how he would accomplish to obtain an orichalc ore if he couldn't even get a mystrile ore himself. He stood in the darkness for a moment, not sure what to do, until he just decided to try. He hammered down more rocks and obtained higher quality ores than last time- copper, silver, even some gold ores- but of course, he also found useless junk ores. "Ugh!" he yelled at himself, smashing a rock with all his might. "Try harder!"

He then heard the shuffling noise of feet towards the exit and he instinctively followed the noise, part of him hoping the stranger could help him get the ore he needed, the other part had no idea why he was following them out of the mine. He didn't realize how frightening he looked, coming out of the mine all dirty with a hammer swung over his back. Or at least, not until he heard the scream.

It wasn't really a scream of fear, but more of a small shriek of embarrassment, he realized as he turned to face the stranger he had been following. It was a girl he didn't recognize, a towel wrapped around her head with ocean blue eyes, sitting in the hot springs near the mine. Gray didn't see anything, but he quickly stopped walking and turned around, his face as red as a cherry.

"I… I'm sorry…" she stuttered, and Gray was about to turn around. He recognized that voice, the voice of the girl he had never met, the person who had came into the blacksmith earlier that day. "I… I'm really sorry…" she stuttered. Gray couldn't think of anything to say, so he waited there, unable to move. "I… I was in the mine, and I needed to wash up…" Her voice trailed off, and she was about to start apologizing again until Gray interrupted her.

"The mine?" Gray asked her, memories flashing back in his head, the moment he had found that mystrile ore. Was this girl the skillful miner who had dropped that ore?

"…Yes…" There was obvious confusion in her voice.

"That day… did you drop a mystrile ore?" Gray heard her tone change completely, from confused to content.

"Yes! So you're the one who picked it up. You did look familiar." She told him, her blue eyes shining with contentment.

Gray gave a gulp, wondering what he would do when she asked for it. He had already given it to Saibara. "Y…yes…" Gray said sheepishly. "How did you know I picked it up?"

She gave a small laugh. "I saw you pick it up." Then she added with a grin, "My eyes adjust to the dark quickly."

He turned around. "So you saw me take it… and you didn't stop me?" As soon as the words came out, emotions blasted into his head- more guilt for picking it up, shock and disbelief since she didn't stop him….

"Yeah… You just looked like you really wanted it." He turned back around to hide his face, and her face fell. "I'm sorry." She apologized again, but Gray wasn't listening.

"If you can mine mystrile ores and give one up…" Gray paused, his hidden face showing hope. "Can you mine an orichalc ore and part with it?" His voice was more serious then he meant for it to be. "Uh… yeah, I guess." She gave an honest grin. "I have one in my house if you want."

Gray began to blush and shook his head. "N…no, it's okay. I just got a little carried away… I shouldn't have asked." She shook her head as well, although Gray couldn't see it. "It's fine. I have no problem giving you one." She told him with a smile. "I'm Claire."

Gray turned around, still shy, but a more serious look appeared on his face. "I'm Gray." She gave him a grin, then the cheerfulness faded and there was awkward silence. "Um… I kind of need to change…" Gray's face turned red to match Claire's and he spun around. _'Of course she does! Why didn't you realize that?' _he told himself, but he replied awkwardly, "I-I'll wait for you in the forest." And he walked out of the spring quickly.

Not after long, he began pacing absent mindedly. Then Claire came up to him in her blue overalls and with her long blonde hair down, surprised by his pacing. He instantly realized what he was doing and stopped.

"Alright, my farms just over here." And with that, she took off onto the path and out of the forest. _'She's a farmer?' _he thought as he followed after her, wondering to see what her farm looked like.

He remembered this farm, he realized after awhile. She had put it into much better condition than the previous owner. She saw her fields of plants nicely watered, potato, cucumber and turnips, her dog running around freely. The dog noticed Gray and rushed over to him, it gave no hesitation before it started sniffing him. "I think Spot likes you." She said with a grin. "Come here, Spot!" she called it with a whistle, which made the dog dash towards her and startled Gray. "Oh, sorry." She held open the door to her house. "Do you want to come in?"

Gray shook his head right away. "I'll just wait here." She rushed into the house, leaving the door open, turned back and called out, "It won't take long!" Gray was considerably patient while Claire rummaged for the orichalc ore. Not after long she came back with a smile on her face and the gray ore in her hands.

"Are you sure?" he asked, which she responded to with a cheerful nod. "Positive." She confirmed when Gray didn't believe her. "Do you mind if I say I dug it up?" Gray asked, still unsure if she was lying to him. "Go ahead, I won't tell." He returned her smile sincerely. "Thanks." He told her, taking it from her hands. "No problem. See you around." She told him, and Gray left for the blacksmith with a grateful feeling.

"Do you have the orichalc ore?" Saibara greeted him. Gray sighed and threw him the ore. Saibara caught it and scanned it like he had done with the mystrile ore, as though he didn't trust Gray. "Hmm… I expected…" he muttered to himself. "Better put these in with the others… maybe not, actually…"

Gray's sapphire eyes stared right through the old man with disbelief. "You already had some?" There was a certain amount of fury in Gray's choked voice.

"Yes." His grandfather's voice was serious like always. "You needed practice. And Cliff said he wanted a bracelet made by only you." Gray felt a pant of guilt in his chest. It wasn't a bracelet made by Gray only liked Cliff had asked, but by Claire as well, since she had mined the ore. He was lying to his grandfather, taking credit for Claire's ores, and letting his roommate down. As bad as that seemed, there was no hope of digging one by himself, he would never find one. As his grandfather would always tell him, he had a lot to learn and accomplish.

"Get out of my shop." Saibara's voice was rough and dry like always, but it seemed to have a harsher edge. Gray looked at his watch and breathed a sigh of relief. His shift was finally over.


	3. Accomplishment

**Author Note: **Firstly, when I say upgrading tools in this, I mean making them stronger. I just wanted to stick with the original name in the games.

Secondly, in this fanfiction there _is_ the Christian religion, instead of the religion of the Harvest Goddess. I will not change that. If you don't like it, go read some other fanfiction, or just don't read this chapter.

A treasure of greater value...

A GrayxClaire Fanfiction

Chapter Three

The opening of the blacksmith door always made Gray the slightest bit curious, and this time was no exception. He didn't turn around, but listened carefully to the customer talk to his grandfather while he finished up with the bracelet he was making for Cliff.

Saibara was serious and plain as always as he greeted the customer. "Hello Claire, how are you today?" he asked the happy farmer, who smiled as contently as she always did.

Claire walked up to the counter. "I'm great, thanks." She told him contently. Gray wondered how that girl was always so happy. "I wanted to know if I could upgrade this tool." He heard as thump as Claire set her tool on the countertop.

The old man picked up the tool and inspected it briefly. "Hmm… you've been using this very much. It's almost ready for an upgrade, but not quite ready yet." He set the tool back on the table and pushed it towards the farmer.

Claire was cheerful and determined. "Alright, thank you." She told him, and took the tool back. "I'll keep using it until then." She said, and left the blacksmith.

Gray waited until he heard the door close to return his full attention to the bracelet, and to add the finishing touch. He inscribed Ann's name in it, with the three letters separately in three different beads. He took care in writing them better than his untidy handwriting. He had no doubt in his mind Cliff would give this bracelet to Ann, so he considered this a safe move.

Once he finished his grandfather spotted the finished bracelet. "Go deliver that bracelet to Cliff, than take the rest of the day off." Saibara commanded him. Gray almost dropped the bracelet in shock. His grandfather never gave him the day off. "I'm serious." The old man confirmed. Gray nodded quickly, and walked out of the door without a word of thanks.

He wasn't sure where Cliff was, but he guessed he was at the church. His roommate would sometimes tell him stories that the pastor Carter would tell Cliff, even though Gray never really was interested in what his shy roommate would tell him. As soon as he walked into the grand church, three faces turned to him- Cliff, Carter and Claire. "Uh… sorry…" he said, walking down the aisle towards Cliff, who was sitting right beside the farmer. _'Maybe the bracelet isn't supposed to be for Ann…'_ he thought, panicking about the inscription he had made into the bracelet.

His roommate looked up at him, a bit surprised. "Hey Gray." His usual shyness had disappeared with Claire at his side.

"I… uh… have your bracelet ready." Gray told him and handed him the bracelet he had worked so hard on. "Sorry it took so long."

Cliff happily took the bracelet and thanked Gray sincerely. "How did you know?" he asked Gray as he inspected the bracelet, his chestnut eyes on the inscription his roommate had made. Gray didn't respond, he was too relieved that he had gotten the inscription right, and the bracelet was for Ann after all. Cliff gave a sigh and looked at the ground. "Is it that obvious?" he asked with disappointment.

Claire looked up at Gray with her usual smile. "Hi Gray." She greeted him. Gray was confused as to why she was at church, but didn't say anything. Claire looked through his puzzled look. "I come here every so often." She explained to him, for once without a smile.

"Gray, would you like to join us in prayer?" Carter asked him with the intention of being friendly, or maybe to spread faith, and Gray didn't know what to say. He had been excused early from work and he had lots of time to kill, so he sat down on the other side of Cliff.

The three automatically put their hands together and bowed their heads, with Gray following nervously.

"Dear father, thank you for another wonderful day, and please bless each and every one of us in this room. Thank you for watching over us and guiding us to make the right decisions." Carter said, beginning the prayer.

Cliff nervously joined in. "Please help me be more courageous and confident."

Claire joined in after, her face serious and her eyes closed. "Please help my life in Mineral Town be enjoyable."

Gray was the last one to add to the prayer, although he knew what to say from the start. "Help me get better." He didn't specify what to get better in, since he wanted to get better at everything. Enough that his grandfather wouldn't criticize him, and enough that he wouldn't doubt the effort he put into anything.

Then the three ended their prayers with "Amen." Gray repeated them nervously.

"So…" Gray said, wondering how to bring the subject up. "Are you and Claire good friends?" he asked Cliff, who looked at Claire to answer.

She gave a nod and looked back at Cliff. "He's a really nice guy."

Cliff blushed red back at her, but kept eye contact. "Thanks, Claire."

Gray stared into Cliff's embarrassed mud brown eyes with a confused look- how could he feel the same, strong way about both Ann and Claire? Cliff say Gray looking at him and realized what he was thinking, turning an even darker red. "It's not like that, Gray!" he exclaimed with a panicked tone. "We're just friends!" he insisted.

Gray knew Cliff didn't lie, but he was still a bit confused, so he decided to leave. "I have to get back to work now." He lied to excuse himself.

Later on that day, Gray was at his usual spot in town square, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his day. _'I got excused from work today!' _he told himself with annoyance. _'I should be enjoying myself!'_ He just wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to work or mine, stay at the inn, and he didn't want to go back to the church, it just felt… awkward.

Then he got an idea. _'I'll go to the forest.'_ It was the perfect idea. He could be alone yet still enjoy his time off. He slowly walked down the path to the forest. He walked down the path to Gotz's house when he heard someone chopping wood. Without thinking, he hide behind the house nervously, then peeked out from behind cautiously. He spotted Claire chopping a large tree stump with her axe, but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't break. She sighed and took a large breath, but went right back to chopping, never taking more than a ten second break.

'_She needs to upgrade her axe before she can break that stump.'_ Gray knew his tools well. He didn't want her to hurt herself, and if she kept chopping her axe might break as well. Even though he didn't want either or those things to happen, he couldn't just walk up to her and tell her she needed her axe upgraded.

He heard a crack and examined the axe. Even from afar he could tell it had cracked, and the crack would simply get worse if she continued to try and break that stump. She needed a stronger material for her axe, and he knew it, so he nervously walked up to her. "Um… you need to upgrade your axe." Gray told her, feeling even more awkward than he previously imagined that he would.

Claire turned around and nearly fell down. "Gray!" she exclaimed, the breath knocked out of her. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working?"

Gray wasn't sure how to answer. _'Think, Gray, think!'_ His words came out like a bullet. "Gramps told me to go mining." He lied to her, saying the first thing that came to his mind. He looked into her sapphire blue eyes, hoping that she would believe him.

She seemed to not pick up on his lying. "You really like mining, don't you?" she asked him.

Gray didn't know why she was asking, but he answered honestly. "Uh… yeah, it's okay."

Claire smiled sweetly at him in response, then her eyes moved to the stump, and she stuck her axe in it. "I love how a massive rock can be smashed, and along with clouds of dust and bits or that rock you can find a beautiful gemstone." She looked up to Gray. "I guess that's something we have in common, then."

Gray was getting more awkward by the second, and readjusted his hat. "Uh… yeah…"

"So would the axe be able to upgrade?" Claire asked, changing the subject. She pulled the axe out of the stump and handed it to Gray.

He took the axe and examined it briefly. "Yeah, for sure." He concluded. "You must be using it a lot." He gave it back to Claire.

She took it back with a smile. "Yes, I have. In fact, I've been using it so much… well, I'll tell you later." Claire gazed up at the multicolored sky, turning a mix of colors that would only match in a sunset and no where else. "Wow… It's that late already?"

Gray glanced up at the sunset just beginning spread. "Oh crap! I gotta get to the inn before it closes."

"Alright, say hi to Cliff for me." Claire told him, and waved goodbye.

He turned around and began to walk off. "Sure." He muttered back to Claire, and left her in the forest. _'I wonder what she was going to tell me.'_ He thought, as he made his way back to the inn. _'Well, it can't be that important.'_

Once he got into Doug's inn he almost crashed into Ann who was making her way out, an excited smile on her face. "Sorry, Gray." She told him, stopping as soon as he stopped. "How are you?" She gave him a caring smile, which he ignored as usual.

"I'm fine." He muttered, and moved around Ann to find Saibara waiting there impatiently. "G… gramps…" he stuttered, wondering what the old man was doing at the inn. He knew he came to the inn to drink sometimes, but it was a bit early for that. "What are you doing here?"

Saibara walked up to him, his expression of anger fierce. "Is it not okay for me to come early for once?" He paused, and his anger faded. "Well, I'm not here early. I'm here to get you back to work."

Gray was surprised and angered. '_Maybe the old man's memory is failing…'_ He knew his grandfather's memory was fine, but he was so tired he convinced himself that was the answer. "You said I got the day off!" he reminded him, not aware he was almost shouting.

The white haired man gave a nod. "That I did, and I regret it. You need to make up for lost time. You're going to work off all the time you got off."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had always found his grandfather unreasonable and slightly cruel, but he was exhausted. How could Saibara force his extremely tired grandson to work for hours to make up the time he told his grandson he could take off. He looked into his grandfather's eyes, barely visible under all the wrinkles, looking for a sign that Saibara was lying, but he found none.

"Fine." He told him, more annoyed than he thought he had ever been at his grandfather.

His grandfather tossed him a pair of keys, which Gray caught tightly, gripping them tightly, trying to get rid of his anger. "Unlock the shop and work for about… two, three hours, is that fair? I'm giving you a break. Lock up the blacksmith once you're done."

Gray walked out of the inn, his anger flaring. _'He can just drink his troubles away while I work my ass off.'_ He told himself bitterly. He unlocked the blacksmith and got to work, taking inventory and doing whatever he thought needed to be done.

After he had been working for awhile, he heard the handle turn. _'Oh shit, someone's coming in.' _Mineral Town was a safe town, but everyone knew when the closing time for the blacksmith was. There was no reason they would come in when they knew it would be closed.

He saw the door open, and in walked Claire, and following behind her was Ann. "What are you doing here?" he asked them, taking out his anger at Saibara on them. "The blacksmith is closed."

Claire looked down at the ground for a moment, then back at Gray. "I'm sorry… The light was on, and I needed to upgrade my axe, like you had said in the forest, so I checked to see if the door was unlocked."

Gray turned red and stopped his work. "Oh… uh… sorry… I guess I can take your tool and start on it tomorrow." He took the axe from Claire and turned to Ann. "And what are you doing?"

"I was hanging out with Claire." Ann told him, and Gray's annoyed look disappeared.

"Thanks so much, Gray." Claire said sincerely, her smile wide and cheerful. "I guess we'll go then." She said nervously, and she walked out, Ann following behind her. Gray heard Ann whisper something to Claire, but he couldn't make it out.

Once he was finished with work he closed up the blacksmith, locking the door and tried to keep his eyes open as he walked back to the inn. It was almost midnight and he was tired and ticked off at his grandfather. He was so relieved to finally collapse onto his bed, waking Cliff up but not caring. He was just so relieved to get to sleep, and he fell asleep fast and fairly peacefully.


	4. Friendship

A treasure of greater value...

A GrayxClaire Fanfiction

Chapter Four

Lots of footsteps came from the room beside where Gray and Cliff lay in bed. Gray was a light sleeper and woke, lying there motionless and annoyed. _'What the fuck is Ann doing?' _he thought, rolling over in his bed. A low mumbling noise replaced the footsteps. _'What, does she talk to herself?'_ He gazed up at the ceiling and waited a moment before he closed his eyes again.

It was very early Monday morning, and Gray wanted sleep more than he wanted anything. Since he had took the day off yesterday, Saibara had been waiting at the inn so he could make Gray work late that night. _'I should have known there was a catch to the old man's "generosity".'_ He told himself, remembering the event with bitter feelings.

There were more footsteps, and even louder talking, and Gray put his hands over his ears, his lack-of-sleep irritation in effect, and yelled out at the top of his lungs, "Shut up already!" The noise stopped immediately, and he fell back asleep.

"Morning, Gray." Cliff greeted with a smile once Gray woke up.

Gray got out of his bed and looked at Cliff smiling contently. "Why are you so happy?" he asked, buttoning up his work jacket.

Cliff gave an absentminded smile and looked out the window. "Well, Ann's got a friend staying at the inn."

Gray slapped his UMA cap over his light brown hair. _'That would explain the noise.'_ He thought, irritated.

"It's only for about three days, though…" Cliff continued, his face fell, but the absentminded smile came back after a moment.

Gray got up and rested his hand on the knob of the door. "Look, Cliff." He told his roommate, staring him right in the eyes. "I really have to get to work."

Cliff's smile sank once again. "Oh… I get it… Sorry…" Cliff mumbled, walking to the table, his usual shy attitude coming back.

Gray threw open the door, and there stood Claire. _'How did she get here?'_ he asked himself. _'The inn doesn't even open yet.'_

"Err… Hi Gray…" Her face was beginning to turn red with embarrassment. "I was just about to knock… Um… anyhow…" she said, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about last night… about the noise. Ann was helping me move in."

Guilt spread over him at the memory of him yelling at the top of his lungs for whoever was making loud noises to shut up. "Oh… that was my fault… Gramps worked me all night and I was pissed. I thought it was just Ann being annoying and loud for no reason."

Claire looked down and frowned slightly, not trying to hide her sadness.

'_Does she think I'm saying she's loud and annoying?' _he asked himself. He could never tell what a girl was thinking. "That… didn't come out right…" he told Claire, but she wasn't listening. Gray turned around and saw Cliff innocently trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. He turned back to the still upset Claire. "Umm… can we maybe continue this on the way to Rose Square?" Gray asked uncomfortably as he spotted Ann hiding behind the staircase railings, hearing every word he and Claire spoke.

"Yeah, sure…" Claire said almost absentmindedly, and walked down the stairs beside Gray.

Ann followed them downstairs and smiled when Gray held the door open for Claire. "You two have fun now!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Gray's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he heard Ann's call.

They walked to Rose Square in silence before he began to talk to her. "I'm really sorry about what I said at the inn. I didn't think you were loud and annoying… I was just… sleep deprived."

Claire nodded, and the frown disappeared from her face. "I know, I was just thinking about how hard it's going to be to balance my farm work and everything for the next three days, since I'm staying at the inn."

Gray remembered what his roommate had said to him this morning. _'I guess this was the friend of Ann's he was talking about… No wonder Cliff's so happy.'_ Remembering the awkwardness he has experienced at the church just brought up a bitter feeling in his stomach. "Why are you staying at the inn, anyways?" he asked her with confusion. She not only had a house of her own, but a whole farm to herself.

Claire looked at the bulletin board as she answered. "You know how last night in the forest you told me how my axe needed to upgrade, that I had been using it a lot? Well, I was using it so I could gather enough lumber for a house renovation from Gotz, since my house is so small."

Gray barely remembered the last owner of Claire's farm, but he remembered it was an old man who didn't care for luxury, so the house was probably quite small.

"I had to save up and sell a lot to afford it, but I think it'll be worth it. Gotz says he needs three days to complete it, so I had to move into the inn until then. Ann didn't mind helping me move in so late… but I'm sorry I woke you up." She turned around to face him and her guilty frown reappeared.

He ignored her apology, since he had already forgiven her and there was no need to apologize more. "Cliff must be happy you moved in." Gray said with an unintentional bitter edge to his voice that, luckily, Claire didn't notice.

"Yeah, he's a really friendly guy." She gave a cheerful smile. "You're a great friend too."

Gray's face turned red. "So… we're friends?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, sorry." Claire apologized with embarrassment. "Is that okay with you?"

Gray felt sweat drip down his face, his hands numb. His throat was dry, and the worst part is he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he hadn't had a friend in so long. "Yeah… That's fine." He tried to return her cheerful smile.

"Well, I guess I should get to work." She said, looking back at the bulletin board. "See you later." She told him, and walked off to the north of Mineral Town. Gray took a quick glance at his watch and headed off towards the blacksmith.

Saibara was already inside, Claire's axe was placed on the counter. "What is this?" he asked Gray in his rough voice.

'It's Claire's axe. Last night she asked for her axe to be upgraded." Gray said, walking over to his workplace.

His grandfather's face grew angrier. "Gray, you don't serve customers after we close!" he reminded his grandson with a harsher tone.

"Her axe was about to break. She needs a stronger axe." Gray told him, growing angered.

Saibara examined the cracks in the axe. "Did she figure this out and come late at night to ask for a stronger axe?"

"No, I met her in the forest yesterday and saw her axe was about to break, so I told her she needed to upgrade it. Then when I was working late she saw the lights on so she came in and asked if I could make her axe stronger. I said yes and I took it. I was going to start on it today." He explained to his grandfather.

"Alright then, start working on it. Her axe is going to need lots of work." Saibara told him, and walked over to his workplace, placing the axe and a copper ore in front of him. "What are you waiting for? Get to work."

Gray spent hours in front of the burning hot stove, trying to melt the copper ore and coat the broken axe with it. The copper filled up the cracks, but he needed more to work with. "Gramps!" he called out. "I need another ore!"

Saibara came over to inspect his work and handed him another copper ore. "It's all uneven." He criticized, pointing out some certain spots on Gray's work.

He had finished his first coat by the time his shift was over, and decided to go tell Claire her axe might take awhile, so he headed to her farm.

Her crops were all watered and growing, her dog and her foul were freely roaming around, but there was no sign of Claire. He walked over to her farmhouse which was clearly being renovated and spotted Gotz sitting down outside. He walked over and Gotz stumbled up quickly.

"Uh… Hello, Gray." He said in his deep voice. It was obvious he was taking a long break from renovating Claire's house. "How are you?"

Gray ignored him and looked around the farm. "Is Claire around?"

"Nope, but I did see her earlier. She was working on the farm and she thanked me for my hard work on her house." He told him, and picked up his toolbox.

Gray walked off the farm and made his way to Rose Square. _'I'll just tell her later tonight.' _He told himself, almost forgetting she was staying at the inn now. He paced back and forth, wondering where to go. He didn't want to go back to the inn, so after much debating he decided to go to Mary's library and clear his head with a good book.

He had gone to the library daily, until he had suddenly developed some serious issues with his grandfather and his constant rage with Gray. _'I stopped coming about the time Claire came to town.'_ He realized. He had been a good friend with Mary, the librarian. She was an intelligent person who Gray could just talk to, she was a good listener and talked about very interesting things…but compared to Claire, Mary and him didn't have very much in common.

'_Ugh! Stop thinking about her!'_ he yelled in his mind as he approached the library. Even though Gray had explained to Mary before he stopped coming to the library and she seemed to be fine, her face lit up with a smile when she spotted him walked through the door.

"Hello, Gray. You haven't been here in awhile… Are things with Saibara better?" she asked sincerely. Mary was always a good listener and always honest, not like others who only pretended to care.

He walked up to the counter. "Yeah, so well, it's actually freaking me out." He forced out a friendly laugh and went to the bookshelf behind Mary, and they both turned around to face each other. "He's always giving me days off, but he made me work late last night to make up my time off…"

Mary gave a nod but didn't respond, although Gray could tell she was listening. She paused and waited for Gray to say anything, but when he didn't she began to talk. "Since you've been away we've put some new books upstairs, including my new novel…"

She blushed, and Gray looked at her shy, embarrassed face and realized this was his friend. He had friends before, he just hadn't felt friendship in so long. That's why he made such a big deal when Claire asked to be friends that morning. _'Why did I stop coming here?'_

"That's cool." Gray said, with a smile. "I can't wait to read it." He made his way up the staircase and searched the fully stocked shelves for Mary's novel, but found nothing.

He turned the corner to check the rest of the shelves and saw on one the last people he felt like seeing, Claire, reading a book with interest. Then she noticed him and looked up at him with her ocean blue eyes. "Uh… hi Gray." She said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Gray swallowed hard, cursing his fate. _'Now I really look like a stalker…' _His thoughts were bitter and negative and he remembered the other day in the forest. "Err… I haven't been here in awhile, and I wanted to read a good book. What are you doing here?" He tried to read the title of the book she was reading, but the cover wasn't facing him.

"I come here a lot." She admitted with a smile. "I love to read about all these new things." Gray began looking through the shelves for Mary's new novel. "What are you looking for?" Claire asked him, trying to peek at the books he was looking through.

"Mary's new novel." Gray replied with annoyance. He hated it when people looked over his shoulder.

Claire's face lit up. "Oh yeah, I read it and I really liked it! Do you want to know how it ends?" she joked.

Gray found he novel and took it from the shelves. "No." Irritation flooded his voice. He turned around to face her and saw her paying all her attention to the book she was reading. "What's so interesting?" he asked her, and tried again to see the title of the book.

She didn't look up as she answered him. "Well, awhile ago I submitted a poem in for a contest and won third place and a bit of prize money. My poem was going to be submitted into this book. I never bothered reading it, but today is the first time I found it."

"Really? I'll read it." Gray insisted.

"Don't bother, my poem's no good." She told him modestly. "In fact, it's really bad…" she said and made a face as she reread her poem in the book.

Gray reached out to take the book. "Which one is yours?" he asked her, trying to see the page number.

Claire slammed the book shut and gave an evil grin. "You'll never know!" she said with a laugh. "I asked the publisher not to print my name and the book has no mention of any contest winners." Gray was honestly scared by this new side of Claire, but he was ticked off as well. "If you want you can take out the book, but you'll never find my poem." She said and handed the book to Gray with a confident evilness in her grin.

'_I'll show her.'_ He told himself determinedly, and took the book from her. He suddenly remembered what he had wanted to tell her before. "Claire, before I forget, I have news on your axe."

Claire looked up from her book again in interest. "Yeah?"

"It might take longer than expected… Your axe had a big crack in it, but I filled it in. Hopefully I can finish it by tomorrow afternoon, but I'm not sure…" Claire nodded and returned her interest to her book. "Well, sorry for disturbing you. I'll just take this and leave." Gray told her awkwardly.

Claire looked at him straight in the eyes. "Gray, before you go, there's something I wanted to ask you." Her face was completely serious. "Uh… why does you hat say 'horse'?"

Gray was amused in an angry sort of way. "Why would you ask a question like that?" Claire didn't answer, but just stared at him, waiting for an answer. "So you know Japanese?" Gray asked, still ignoring her question.

She gave a shrug. "Yeah, a little. Now answer my question." She commanded with impatience.

Gray grinned, thinking this impatient Claire was funny and different from the Claire he thought he knew. "I was born in the year of the horse, in the Chinese zodiac."

Claire laughed cheerfully. "Really? You know, I named my foul 'Uma' after you, since you never take off that hat."

'_I'm flattered, she named her baby horse after my hat.'_ He though sarcastically, after dismissing himself from Claire as he walked down the staircase. _'Although, it's a nice thought… sort of…'_

He put a few books of the counter- Mary's novel, the book of poetry and a book on mining he found. _'Maybe I'll show the mining book to Claire once I'm done.'_ He went over to the counter and Mary smiled at him shyly once she saw him put her new book on the counter.

"Can I take these out?" he told her, and Mary stuttered a yes, and told him the books were due two weeks from now. Once he thanked her, Gray walked out of the door and back to the inn to read. He put the books on the table and walked up to the counter.

"What will you have?" Doug asked Gray with a friendly tone.

"A box lunch." Gray muttered, handing Doug his gold and sat down at the table. _'He serves lunch food for diner…'_ Gray thought, wondering why Doug didn't have any diner meals.

Ann soon came out of the backroom with Gray's steaming hot food. "Here Gray." She told him, and placed the meal in front of him. She noticed the pile of books on his table. "What's with all the books?" she asked him.

"Nothing. Mind your own buisness." Gray muttered and began to eat. Once he was done his diner he went upstairs and sat on his bed, trying to decide which book to read first. _'Which one…?'_ He looked at Mary's book, then the poetry book, then the mining book and continued that process, but it got him nowhere. _'Okay, let's break this into steps.'_ He told himself with a sigh. _'Mary's book, or the mining book?'_ He thought about it for a long time, but was still unsure.

"What are you doing, Gray?" Cliff finally spoke up from the other side of the room.

"Cliff, which book should I read out of these?" He showed the three choices to his roommate, who showed obvious interest.

Cliff walked up to Gray's bed and looked at the titles carefully. "Mary's book and the book with Claire's poetry." He said, noticing two of the books Gray had laid out.

Gray gazed up at his roommate with a mixture of frustration and astonishment. _'She told Cliff before me.' _He shook his head fiercely. _'Why shouldn't she have? They're better friends.'_

Cliff didn't notice Gray was deep in his thoughts. "If I were you, I'd read the mining book, but that's really only because of your job. He picked up the poetry book and quickly scanned it. "I might read this later."

Gray didn't know what to do beside take Cliff's advice. "You can read that book, and I'll read the mining one."

Cliff's face lit up, and he kept his eye contact with Gray. "Thanks…" Cliff sounded like his usual shy, antisocial self, but Gray could tell he was being sincere. _'He just doesn't know how to thank people.' _Gray concluded.

Gray heard a knock at the door and placed Mary's book on the table before he went to get the door. Claire was there, holding a handful of coins. "Sorry, Gray. I forgot to pay you last night at the blacksmith." Claire handed him the coins. "That should be enough, right?"

Gray counted the coins in his head and looked up at her. "Yeah, that's fine, thanks." He was about to close the door, but Claire began to talk.

"Hey, Cliff." She spotted the shy Cliff from behind Gray. "You're reading the poetry book. Have you read mine yet?"

Cliff looked up at her with a smile and big brown eyes. "No, not yet."

Claire gave a laugh. "Then please stop reading." She looked back at Gray with an evil grin. "Don't tell Gray which one is mine." She told him, and walked back to her room.

'_Damn it…'_ Gray told himself bitterly as he closed the door and walked back to his bed. _'She got me.'_

Later that night they were both reading in the same room, lying down in their separate beds. Cliff was interested in the book he was reading, and Gray was bored out of his mind with his mining book. He knew most of what he was reading, the book was mostly for beginners who had never set foot in a mine. _'If you climb up the stairs, you will exit the mine, so be careful.'_ Gray quoted the book in his mind with a bitter edge. _'Screw this book, I already know all this.'_ He threw the book on the ground in front of his bed and Cliff gave a jump. "I'm going to bed." Gray muttered and rolled over in his bed. His roommate obediently turned of the light instead of enjoying his book.


End file.
